The Little Merman (A SPN Little Mermaid AU)
by HeyAssButtImBatman
Summary: Gabriel is a merman. Sam is a human. Castiel is a crab. Dean is a fish. Crowley is a seagull. Wait, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah! So Gabriel has a very tall, handsome and human problem, and apparently the solution is Lucifer, the sea witch. Except, does anything involving a witch ever go right? The answer is no. No, it does not.
1. Chapter 1

Gabriel was naturally a curious individual, and always one of the first to charge blindly into the unknown whenever something new or exciting presented itself to him. Which was why he was currently swimming around a sunken ship in shark infested waters with no one but his best friend Dean to keep him company.

The aforementioned fish was trying - and failing - to get Gabriel to head back to Atlantica, but the merman wasn't paying attention. He was focused on a strange silver object he had found on the floor. It was long and glinted in the low light when he tilted it.

"I wonder what this is," he mused aloud.

"Who cares?" Dean hissed. "This place is giving me the creeps. Let's just get out of here."

"Dean, don't be such a guppy," Gabriel teased, shoving the silver thing into his bag.

"I'm not a guppy," Dean muttered sullenly behind him, and Gabriel chuckled. One wave of his long golden tail sent him to the other side of the room, where he picked up another oddity. This one was made from the same material as the ship, although it had a hoe in one end and was pointed at the other.

"Shark!" Dean shouted suddenly, voice full of panic, and Gabriel turned around just in time to see the beast smash through the window, very nearly catching Dean in its jaws. Eyes wide, Gabriel grabbed Dean's fin and pulled him to a weird square hole in the ceiling, and they slipped through it just as the shark's bulk crashed into where they had just been.

They swam furiously to where they had entered the ship, a small round window that had no clear-coral in it. Gabriel pushed Dean's chubby body through the hole, then swam out after him. The shark simply tore through the side of the ship, jaw open wide.

It chose to follow Dean instead of Gabriel, chasing the frantic fish all across the water surrounding the ship. Gabriel, who had been swimming to the surface, looked back when he heard a small yelp.

His eyes widened in horror when he saw Dean free-floating, a dreamy look on his face, next to the long thing sticking out of the top of the ship. The shark noticed, too, and set a course straight for the defenseless fish. Clutching his bag tighter, Gabriel propelled himself through the water and just barely managed to grab Dean before the shark got there.

It growled angrily and gave chase, but merpeople were much faster then sharks and Gabriel easily outpaced it. He looked back over his shoulder, pleased to see the monster turning away in search of easier prey. Panting, he glanced down at his friend.

"What happened?" Dean asked groggily. Gabriel rolled his eyes fondly.

"Nothing happened," Gabriel said. "We're just going to see Crowley."

Dean pulled a face, but quickly stopped when Gabriel glared at him. The little fish blamed Crowley the seagull for Gabriel's obsession - "It's not an obsession, Dean, it's a perfectly normal amount of interest!" - with the human world. Not that he'd ever say it to Crowley's face, because no doubt the gull would eat him.

"Fine," Dean grumbled. "Let's get this over with."

Gabriel led the way to Crowley's secluded rock, a rock that never moved despite the fact that it wasn't tethered to anything and was floating in the middle of the ocean. When asked about it, Crowley would simply say, "My mother", as if that answered anything. It took them a while to get there, almost an hour. Gabriel approached the surface carefully, remembering the stories he'd heard when he was little of merpeople who went to the surface and were never seen or heard from again.

With Dean fidgeting anxiously beside him, Gabriel let the tip of his head break the water. When nothing immediately attacked him, he let his whole head emerge and swam over to where the ornery old seagull was waiting for them, perched in the middle of his nest of kelp and feathers.

"Well, well," he said when they approached. "Long time, no see. What's going on, merboy?"

Gabriel scowled at the nickname. "I'm not a merboy. I'm sixteen."

Dean and Crowley shared Looks.

"Right," the seagull said, only slightly sarcastic. "Well, is this a social visit or did you bring me anything new?"

Gabriel immediately brightened and lifted his bag, setting it down on the rock.

"You should have seen the ship," he said dreamily as Crowley shifted through the items in the bag. "It was huge! There was stuff everywhere!"

"Everywhere, you say?" Crowley held up the silver thing. "Then why did you only collect this and the snarfblat?"

"Snarfblat?" Gabriel asked, but Dean interrupted.

"We would have gotten more, but there was a shark!" he said indignantly. Gabriel slapped a hand over his mouth and leaned forward, bringing his entire upper body onto the rock.

"What's a snarfblat?" he asked eagerly.

Crowley pulled out the made-out-of-ship-thing-with-the-hole. "This," he said dramatically, "is a snarfblat. It dates back to prehistorical times when humans used to just sit around like the idiotic lumps they are and stare at each other all day. As one can imagine, it got very boring. So the snarfblat was invented, to create fine music. Allow me to demonstrate."

Gabriel's eyes widened and he paid no attention when Crowley sucked on the snarfblat instead of blowing, and started choking on water and kelp.

"Music!" Gabriel groaned. "The concert!"

"That was today?" Dean gasped.

"My brother's going to kill me!" Gabriel exclaimed. He grabbed the snarfblat from Crowley and shoved it into his bag. "We've gotta go. Thanks, Crowley!"

"Shut up," the gull gasped, eyes watery and voice raspy. Gabriel chuckled and dove beneath the surface.

"We've gotta hurry," he said. He held out the bag towards Dean. "Get in."

Dean glared at him. "Why?"

"Because I'm faster than you and if I don't have to wait for you then we'll get there faster."

Dean huffed, but swam into the bag. Gabriel made sure it was settled securely at his hip before waving his powerful tail and letting it propel him towards home.

… oO()Oo …

"I just don't know what I'm going to do with you," Michael said, sounding very disappointed. Gabriel ducked his head, ashamed. Michael resumed his pacing. "I give you nearly everything you ask for, I always have, and all I ask in return is that you do the duties required of you as a prince. Is that so difficult? Castiel has been working on this concert for a very long time-"

"More than a long time!" an angry voice interrupted, and the small red body of Castiel, the court composer and Michael's advisor, appeared on the king's shoulder. "This production was to be the pinnacle of my career, Gabriel, and now, thanks to you, I am the laughing stock of the entire kingdom!"

Dean peeked his head out from behind Gabriel and glared at the crab. "It's not his fault!" Castiel turned his gaze onto the fish and, as usual, he immediately became flustered. "I- that is- there was a shark! Yeah, a shark! And it chased us all around the ship, and then the seagull was being a know-it-all again-"

"Ship?" Dean's eyes got wide and he withered under the glare Gabriel sent him. "Seagull? You've been going to the surface again! Haven't you?"

"Nothing happened," Gabriel protested, but Michael didn't listen.

"How many times have I told you that humans are dangerous?" he demanded. "And yet you still go! Do you think I want to see my youngest brother speared on some fish eater's hook?"

Gabriel frowned a little in confusion - Youngest brother? Wasn't he Michael's only brother? - but anger quickly chased it away.

"I'm sixteen!" he snapped. "I'm not a child anymore!"

"Don't you take that tone of voice with me," Michael threatened.

"But if you would just listen-"

"Silence! I am your king, and as long as you live under my ocean you'll obey my rules! I am never, ever to hear of you going to the surface again, is that clear?"

Gabriel narrowed his eyes and his face scrunched up in anger, but he didn't say anything. He let out a frustrated yell and spun around, dashing out of the throne room with Dean hot on his fins.

"That could have gone better," the fish said sarcastically. He stopped when he saw the look on Gabriel's face. "What's wrong?"

Gabriel flipped onto his back so that he could face Dean while he swam.

"He treats me like a child!" he said angrily. "I can take care of myself, I've proved that time and time again, yet he still doesn't trust me."

"To be fair, he is right about humans," Dean said.

"But I've never even seen a human!" Gabriel exclaimed. "How long have we been doing this? And how many times has one of those land-walkers caught us?"

He huffed angrily and crossed his arms. For a while, no one said anything.

"You still have your bag, right?" Dean asked tentatively when the silence became a little awkward. Gabriel nodded. "Let's go put the stuff into the grotto, then."

Gabriel brightened at once and he changed direction, heading to the palace garden. Dean followed, a relieved sigh leaving his lips. They greeted every merperson they passed, Gabriel's hold on his bag tightening every time they did.

When they made it to the garden, they slowed, as if they were simply enjoying a leisurely swim through the relaxing atmosphere. The garden was full to bursting of various sea plant life. Large fronds of kelp, miniature coral reefs, anemones, starfish… all of them waved cheerily in the slight current as they passed.

They waited until they were sure no one was looking before slipping through the kelp forest and over to a small boulder. With a grunt of exertion, Gabriel pushed the rock aside and let Dean go in first before slipping in after him. He left the entrance open a crack - it wouldn't do to get trapped, and the other opening, the one at the top of the cave, was too small for him to fit through.

Gabriel sighed happily as he sank to the sandy floor. He pulled out the snarfblat and the silver thing and held them up, one eye closed as he considered them.

"Where should I put them?" he asked. Dean shrugged.

"Who cares?" he replied. "It's not like you have much of a system going on here."

Gabriel glanced around at the mess of human stuff lying haphazardly around the grotto, some of it on the floor and most of it on the natural shelves built into the rock, and realized that Dean was right. He hummed thoughtfully and eventually decided to set them next to his collection of fish hooks.

Dean made a face at them.

"Why do you have those?" he asked disgustedly. It was a question he asked every time he saw them.

"Why do I have any of this stuff?" he asked, arms wide as he indicated the hundreds of items littering the small area.

"That is what I would like to know." Gabriel spun around at the new voice, and his eyes widened when he saw Castiel scuttling towards them. "What is all of this, Gabriel?"

Gabriel chuckled nervously. "It's just a few things I've collected over the years," he said.

"This is not 'just a few things'," Castiel said. "This is dangerous. Humans are dangerous. If your brother knew about this-"

"You aren't going to tell him, are you?" Dean asked, for once not stuttering in the face of the stoic crab.

"Please don't, Cas," Gabriel pleaded. "I'd be in so much trouble! He'd never let me out of the palace again!"

Castiel narrowed his eyes at the nickname. "Gabriel, you are obviously unable to withstand the pressure underneath all of this rock. Come with me back to the palace, and I'll…"

He trailed off when he noticed Gabriel was no longer paying attention. The merman had his eyes trained on the small hole in the roof of the cavern - more specifically, on the huge shadow passing overhead.

Ignoring Cas' calls, he swam out of the grotto. He sighed impatiently as he waited for Dean and Cas to exit, then he pushed the boulder back into place and looked towards the surface. The shadow was almost gone by then, and Gabriel swam fast to catch up.

He breached the surface and gasped in surprise and delight. It was a ship. A very large ship. Even with how far away from it Gabriel was, he could see the humans milling about on top. Strange, colorful lights were bursting into existence just above the ship, looking almost like an anemone, before they fizzled out.

Beside him, Gabriel could hear Dean and Cas surface.

"Gabriel, what are you-" Cas started. Gabriel looked at his thunderstruck expression and grinned.

"I'm going to get a closer look," he said. He ignored Dean calling his name and dove back under the water, getting right next to the large vessel. SIlently, he pulled himself completely out of the water and sat on some hanging… thing.

He smiled in wonder as he watched the humans mill about. They were all loud, laughing and talking and singing. His smile dropped when he noticed a strange hairy creature coming towards him. He froze completely, hoping that the hair covering its eyes would let it walk past him, but its large nose sniffed him out.

It grinned at him, tongue lolling, and licked his cheek. Someone whistled and the creature ran towards the sound, leaving a shocked Gabriel behind. He regarded the creature curiously. Michael had always told him that humans were cruel, bloodthirsty murderers, but how could that be true if they lived with such friendly beasts?

"What's up, merboy?"

Gabriel turned, not surprised to find Crowley sitting on the railing next to him. He ignored the nickname in favor of turning back to the humans.

"I've never seen a human this close before," he whispered. One in particular caught his eye. He was tall and had long brown hair. His eyes were full of laughter as he blew into a snarfblat, dancing with the creature who had licked Gabriel before. "I've never seen the appeal of creatures without tails, but that one is very easy on the eyes."

Crowley smirked at him. "Got ourselves a little crush, have we?"

One of the humans walked out into the middle of the ship. He was shorter than the handsome one, and older, too. His face was partially obscured by a short, grey beard.

"Alright, everybody shut the hell up!" he shouted, and everyone quieted. He nodded, satisfied. "Now, it's this idjit's birthday and I got him a present."

The one who the human had called 'idjit', the one with the snarfblat, smiled.

"Aw, Bobby, you shouldn't have," he said. Bobby ignored him and reached towards something that another human had hauled out. He pulled off the white sheet covering it, revealing a large stone statue. It looked like Idjit, though bigger by about two feet. The hairy creature growled at it.

Idjit's face twisted.

"Ah, well, it certainly is… interesting," he said politely.

"It's the worst thing I have laid eyes on in my life," Bobby said. "But if you just get married already, I'll personally hand you a hammer and let you destroy it."

Idjit laughed. "Oh, come on, you aren't still mad that I didn't fall for the prince of Glauerhaven, are you?"

"It isn't just me, Sam," Bobby said. "You're eighteen today, and your coronation is in six months. If you don't have a queen or king before then, the kingdom will continue to be run by the Council until you find one."

"I don't want to marry just anybody," Sam said, sitting down on the edge of the boat right above where Gabriel and Crowley sat, listening. "I haven't found the right person yet. I want to marry for love."

"You haven't been looking hard enough," Bobby said drily.

"Believe me, Bobby, when I find them, I'll know," Sam replied. "It'll just hit me, like lightning."

At that moment, lightning struck the water about a mile from the ship, closely followed by thunder.

"Hold fast!" one of the humans shouted. "Storms a-comin'! Secure the riggin'!"

 **Finally, I'm getting this up! It's taking me a lot less time than my Supernatural Tangled AU did, but I always did love The Little Mermaid more than that sad excuse of a Rapunzel movie.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys liked it! As always, comments are greatly appreciated. The next chapter should be coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled.**


	2. Chapter 2

Gabriel watched with wide eyes as the humans immediately broke into movement. The wind picked up, howling angrily at them all, and the dark clouds overhead finally broke, soaking them all within seconds.

"I'm getting out of here," Crowley told him. He spread his wings and took to the sky, his small form being buffeted from all sides by the wind. Gabriel glanced fearfully at the humans before diving off the ship and into the safety of the water below.

He stayed under, watching through wide eyes the shadow of the ship. Lightning lit up the sky again, except this time it struck the ship. The world was lit up by a bright red glow, and Gabriel swam back up to take a look.

The ship was… on fire, that was the word. Gabriel could feel the heat from where he was floating, and decided that he didn't like it. He dove again. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't make himself leave.

His instincts and common sense were screaming at him to swim away, to find Castiel and Dean and go home, but another part made him stay, to see what would happen.

The ship suddenly exploded, a bright flash of light almost as bright as lightning, and much louder than thunder. Gabriel gasped and broke the surface, looking around for the humans. He could see them on a few little ships, floating some distance away, and he sighed in relief.

The relief was short lived, however, when he noticed that the human were all looking towards the wreckage of the ship and shouting a name. Sam.

Gabriel's blood turned cold and he submerged himself, swimming frantically through the wreckage until he found him. Sam was sinking steadily lower and lower in the water, hair floating in a lazy halo around his head and face lax.

Gabriel wrapped his arms around him and heaved, bringing him to the surface. He glanced around and, spotting a small island nearby, started swimming. It took him the rest of the night to get there, what with the extra weight of his burden.

When he finally made it, he collapsed next to Sam on the sand. His eyes closed, and then he knew no more.

… oO()Oo …

Bright sunlight, and something poking insistently at his side woke him up a few hours later. He whined and clamped his eyes shut further, until the events of last night returned to him and his lids flew open.

He was glad to see Sam still next to him, though that gladness quickly turned to fear when he saw how cold and still the human looked. Someone cleared their throat next to him, and Gabriel turned his head to find Crowley standing on the sand next to them.

"Is he… dead?" Gabriel asked fearfully. Crowley made a disgusted noise.

"Yes, he is," he said without even looking. "Can we go now?"

"No, wait! He's breathing." Gabriel narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and studied the human in front of him. "He's so beautiful."

"Oh, god," Crowley groaned, and the sound of wings flapping alerted him that the bird had left. Just as well, Gabriel didn't want anyone there to witness this moment. It felt special somehow. He brushed a lock of hair back from Sam's forehead and sighed softly.

A memory came to him, then, of a lullaby his parents used to sing to him. Struck with a sudden urge, Gabriel began to sing.

 _Rest, my little darling_

 _You've had a busy day_

 _The sun is a-falling_

 _And it's time for me to say_

 _Hush, hush, hush little merman_

 _Good night_

 _Hush, hush little merman_

 _Sleep tight_

 _Close your eyes and lay down your head_

 _In your cozy ocean bed_

 _Have a snooze, please, like I said and_

 _Hush, hush, hush little merman_

 _Good night_

 _Hush, hush little merman_

 _Sleep tight_

As the last notes faded into nonexistence, Gabriel startled when he saw Sam gazing at him. Thoughts of _nonodangerous_ flooded into his mind, but then he saw how Sam's eyes seemed unfocused and he relaxed. A smile graced his lips, and the human's lips twitched in return.

Something loud came from his left, an animal noise of some kind. It seemed to be getting louder, and with a start Gabriel recognized the hairy beast from the ship. Which could only mean that more humans weren't far behind.

He looked down at Sam once more before turning and dragging himself into the sea. He went underwater just long enough to get to a large pile of boulders just offshore, and he crept onto one and watched as the old human, Bobby, ran over to Sam and helped him sit up.

Sam's mouth moved, and Bobby said something in return, and then they were both walking away, the younger human leaning heavily on the older. Gabriel felt a pang in his chest, even though he knew it was ridiculous.

But then Sam looked back, towards the sea. His face was confused, as if he was looking for something and couldn't seem to remember where he had put it. Gabriel beamed. A throat clearing brought his attention to the waters below him, and he was surprised to find Castiel and Dean floating next to him.

Gabriel let himself slip into the water.

"I don't suppose you only just got here and didn't see any of that, did you?" he asked without much hope.

"No," Castiel deadpanned. "But we are going to keep this a secret, understand? This stays between the three of us, and the king must never find out. You," he pointed a claw at Gabriel, "are going to stay in the ocean where you belong and forget that this whole thing ever happened."

Gabriel snorted. "Yeah, right. Like I could just forget Sam."

He dove, Castiel and Dean not far behind.

"So, do either of you know how to get home?" Castiel rolled his eyes at the prince and took the lead.

"We aren't far from the palace," he said. "We should be there in a few hours."

Gabriel let himself lag behind the crab, so that he could talk to Dean without being overheard.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think you're crazy," Dean said. "If King Michael ever finds out about this, we're all going to end up as shark bait."

"Then he won't find out, right?" Gabriel smirked and Dean rolled his eyes with a sigh.

How did he get himself into these situations?

… oO()Oo …

Michael was suspicious, of course, but it wasn't the first time Gabriel hadn't come home all night. So after a halfhearted round of questioning, he had simply sent the exhausted merman to bed. Gabriel's dreams were disturbed by images of hazy hazel eyes and soft smiles, and when he woke up he was even more confused and tired than he had been before.

But also more happy.

Merpeople noticed. When, after Gabriel woke up, he spent three hours in his bathroom getting ready for the day, Gabriel's personal merman-servant called for Michael, fearing for the prince's safety. Gabriel wasn't even annoyed, like he usually would have been.

"Good morning, Michael," he said as he swam by his brother. There was a huge smile on his face and he was sure he looked a little crazy, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Oh, he's got it bad," he heard his servant say.

"What?" Michael asked. "What has he got?"

"Isn't it obvious, your Majesty? Gabriel's in love."

In love? Was he really? Gabriel frowned. This was just not done, especially not by him. He needed advice. Professional advice. He needed Dean.

He found the fish terrorizing starfish in the royal gardens, Castiel by his side, trying to get him to stop. They both looked up when he approached.

"We need to talk," Castiel said without preamble. "Somewhere private. Follow me."

He swam off without waiting for an answer, and Dean and Gabriel shared amused looks before following. They exited the palace grounds and then the city, and Castiel led them to a wide open space on the seafloor, far away enough from civilization that they had no hope of being overheard.

Gabriel settled himself on a rock and watched Castiel pace restlessly, obviously gathering his thoughts. A large red flower caught his attention and he absentmindedly plucked at its petals, counting them in his head as he did so.

 _He loves me… he loves me not… he loves me… he loves me not… he loves me! Yes!_

"...Will not be easy keeping something like this a secret for long," Castiel was saying, and Gabriel looked up from the petal in his hands.

"It'll be fine, Cas," he said absentmindedly. Then he looked at Dean. "I've got to see him again! Like, tonight! I'm sure Crowley will be able to find out where he lives."

"Gabriel!" Cas snapped, and Gabriel stopped in surprise. "Cease and desist with these ridiculous daydreams. Nothing good will come of it. You belong in the sea, down here. Trust me, the human world is a mess. All day they slave away under the sun, destroying the lives of fish and…"

Gabriel stopped listening when Dean leaned in to whisper something in his ear.

"I have a surprise for you," he said. "I got a few dolphins to help me get it to the grotto. Let's ditch Michael 2.0 and get out of here."

Gabriel nodded eagerly and, after making sure that Castiel was well and truly distracted, they dashed back towards the city. The royal gardens were thankfully empty, so they didn't have to wait for anyone to leave before slipping through the hidden entrance of the grotto.

Gabriel gasped and his eyes widened when he saw what Dean had done. Standing right in the center of the grotto, looking proud and regal as hell, was the statue of Sam from the ship.

"No way," Gabriel breathed. "No way! Dean, I can't believe you did this!"

Dean shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, well," he said. "You seemed pretty interested in him, though I don't know why, so I figured that I could help you out with that and add something to the grotto."

Gabriel approached the statue and ran a finger lightly down its face.

"It's so lifelike," he said. "It looks just like him."

Dean let out a small squeak and Gabriel turned to see what was wrong, freezing when he came face to face with none other than his older brother Michael.

"I consider myself a reasonable merman," the king said quietly, though the slight tremor in his voice and the glowing trident in his hand exposed his anger. "I set certain rules, and I expect those rules to be followed. Is it not enough that you pillage sunken ships like some bottom-feeding scavenger?"

Gabriel recoiled, stung, but Michael either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Now I hear that you rescued a human from drowning!" Gabriel's eyes cut down to Castiel, who was sitting behind the enraged merman. His face was unreadable.

"Michael, I had to!" Gabriel shouted. "He was going to die!"

"Good!" Michael spat. "One less human to worry about. How you can even stand to touch all of this - this… garbage knowing all that you do about humans is beyond me. You've been told since you could barely swim that humans are spineless, savage fish-eaters, incapable of any feeling."

Fury burned white-hot through Gabriel's veins, and he only had a split second to think, _Uh-oh, here's where my temper gets out of control,_ before he shouted, "Michael, I love him!"

HIs eyes immediately widened and he shrank back, one hand over his mouth. Michael froze, a look of horror slipping over his features.

"No," he whispered softly. "Have you gone completely insane? You can't fall in love with the first person you meet, especially not a human!"

"I don't care," Gabriel said stubbornly from where he was hiding behind the statue.

The golden glow from the trident grew stronger with Michael's anger. "So help me, Gabriel, this lesson will get through your thick skull. And if this is the only way, so be it."

Gabriel looked up in confusion, but horror quickly replaced it when he saw what Michael was about to do.

"Michael, don't!" he shouted, but it was too late. Clear-coral and bits of human things flew everywhere as Michael unleashed blast after blast from his trident, eyes wild with fury. Gabriel swam out of the way of a stray lightning bolt, and Michael used that chance to aim one last attack at the statue.

Before Gabriel could cry out, the thing had been reduced to a pile of rubble. He looked around his ruined grotto, biting his lip hard to keep from crying. He spun around and with a few powerful flaps of his tail, he had shot past Michael, Dean and Castiel and was swimming out into open water.

"I hate you!" he shouted over his shoulder, and didn't even pause long enough to see the expression on his brother's face. Only when he was sure they couldn't see him anymore did he allow himself to cry, and huge gasping sobs wracked his frame.

His eyes closed of their own accord yet he didn't stop swimming; he didn't care where he ended up, as long as it was away. Hours later, he collapsed onto the seafloor, exhausted. His sobs had been reduced to little more than the occasional hiccup, and he wanted nothing more than to wake up and find that this had been just a terrifying nightmare.

"I wish I had never saved that stupid human," he hissed quietly to himself, and the lie sounded fake even to his own ears.

"Poor child," a vice to his right hissed. Gabriel flinched back as two of the ugliest moray eels he had ever seen in his life came into view. Each one had one yellow eye that seemed to glow in the low light.

"Poor, sweet child," the second eel hissed. Gabriel bristled.

"He has a very serious problem."

"If only there was something we could do."

They both stopped and grinned at Gabriel, showing off their sharp fangs.

"But there _is_ something."

Gabriel frowned. "What do you mean? Who are you?"

"Don't be scared," the first one hissed. Gabriel scoffed and rose up, pulling out the dagger he kept hidden in a sheathe on his belt and pointing it at the eel in one swift motion. They both froze, and their shocked expressions would have been funny if Gabriel had been in a laughing mood.

"I am not scared," he spat. "But I _am_ very angry, and if you don't tell me who you are and what you want right now, I will have you arrested for harassing the prince of Atlantica."

Both eels smiled.

"We represent someone who can help you."

"Someone who can make all your dreams come true."

"Just imagine," they said together entwining their tails, "you and your prince together, forever, out of the shadow of your brother's oppression."

Gabriel perked up. "How?"

"Lucifer has great power," they hissed, and Gabriel's lip curled up.

"The sea witch? No, I refuse to speak to that traitor."

Both eels hissed softly and goosebumps rose on Gabriel's skin.

"Suit yourself," they said. "And you might want to hurry home. Your brother and the babysitter he appointed you will be worried."

Babysitter? Gabriel's eyes widened. _Castiel._ No wonder the crab had been so concerned with Gabriel's interest in humans. _Michael_ had ordered him to watch the prince.

"Wait," Gabriel called out. The eels paused and turned back to him.

"Yes?"

"Take me to Lucifer," he commanded. The creatures turned and began swimming away from Atlantica, towards the deeper parts of the ocean where light rarely reached. After only a split-second's hesitation, Gabriel followed.

They had barely gone half a league when Gabriel heard someone calling his name, and turned to find Dean and Castiel frantically heading towards them.

"Gabriel, where are you going with this riff-raff?" Castiel demanded when he had caught up to them. Dean, who had been peering suspiciously at the eels, suddenly reared back.

"I know who they are!" he exclaimed. "They're Lilith and Azazel! They work for Lucifer!"

"I cannot allow you to fraternize with such scum," Castiel said. "Lucifer is a monster, and he was banished for a reason."

Gabriel narrowed his eyes, the comment about Lucifer being banished not even making it through the haze of anger still wrapped around his mind. "Why don't you go tell my brother?" he snapped harshly. "You're good at that."

Without waiting for a response, he turned tail and quickly caught up to his guides. No one spoke for a while, and the further they travelled, the more creeped out Gabriel got. Just before they dove into a small trench, Lilith and Azazel veered right slightly, leading him to a large cave mouth.

Gabriel followed them in, and his attention was immediately caught by the strange creatures growing from the rock that made up the floor. They looked like no bottom-feeders Gabriel had ever seen. These were long and thin and brown, with huge eyes and gaping mouths. They gazed up at Gabriel with something akin to desperation in their eyes and a few even stretched up to try to grab him.

He swam a little higher, just out of their reach and followed the trail of bubbles left by the eels.

"Well, are you going to just loiter there, or are you going to come in?"

Gabriel turned a corner and he cautiously approached who he assumed to be Lucifer. He hadn't expected a merman, yet that's exactly what Lucifer was. He was almost as big as Michael was. His tail was bright green and there were a few blue streaks going through it. His hair was dark blonde and his blue eyes were crinkled at the corners from his smile, though it did nothing to ease Gabriel's nervousness.

"I was expecting a little more from you, considering your upbringing," Lucifer said. "I know for a fact that you were taught that lurking in doorways is rude."

Gabriel drew himself up and his hand drifted towards the belt slung around his hips. Lucifer noticed, and laughed.

"Oh, please, boy! As if you could do any damage to me! I'd kill you before that tiny dagger ever left its sheathe. But enough idle threats. You are here on business. I know all about your problem, yes, and the only way to solve it… is to become human."

Gabriel's eyes widened. "Can you even do that?"

Lucifer circled him slowly, like a shark closing in on its prey. Gabriel shivered.

"There are many things I can do," he answered finally. "Things that have and still will scare the ever-living daylights out of your precious king. But enough about that. Here's the deal I'm willing to make. I'll make you a potion that'll turn you human for three days, and three days only."

He waved his hand and a small image of Gabriel appeared. The tail of the fake Gabriel split down the middle, turning into two legs.

"If you can get dear ol' princey to fall in love with you and kiss you before the sun sets on the third day - and we're talking about true love's kiss, not just any old smooth on the cheek - if he does kiss you before the third day's sunset, you'll stay human forever."

The image of Gabriel disappeared and was replaced by one of Gabriel and Sam together, surrounded by a large red heart.

"If not, you turn back to normal and you belong to me."

"No, Gabriel!"

Castiel and Dean jumped out from where they were hidden behind a small stalagmite. Lilith and Azazel immediately rushed over and bound the small creatures up with their tails, preventing them from saying anything else.

"Have we got a deal?" Lucifer asked, drawing Gabriel's attention again.

"If I become human, I'll never see my brother again."

"Obviously," Lucifer said. "But you'll be with your prince, and you'll be human. Isn't that what you've always wanted? Oh, and before I forget - there is, of course, a price."

Gabriel waved a dismissive hand. "However much you want, you'll get it."

"Oh, I'm not asking for money, child," Lucifer told him, sounding terribly amused. "No, what I want is… your voice."

"My voice?" Gabriel parroted.

"You got it, angel fish. It's not much, is it? Definitely one of my better deals. For you, at least."

He produced a contract, a long scroll made out of glowing paper, and handed Gabriel a pen made of fish bones. Despite his disgust at the barbaric show, he gripped it tight and, after a moment's debate, signed the contract.

 **Yes, the song that Gabriel sang is from the Backyardigans. Deal with it.**

 **Alright, another chapter down! What did you guys think? Personally, I think I did pretty okay. Also, guess who got an account on AO3! From now on, all of my works will be posted on AO3 and this site, so if you prefer AO3 you can read my stuff there. My fic recs and upcoming fics list will stay on my profile on this site, though, so if you ever want to check those out you'll need to use .**


	3. Chapter 3

Lucifer whisked the contract away to God-knows-where after Gabriel signed it, and he began working on the potion. All sorts of strange ingredients were thrown into his cauldron and Gabriel was sure that some of them were moving.

"Paluga, sarruga, come winds of the Caspian Sea," Lucifer crowed, a deranged smile on his face. "Now rings us glossitis and max laryngitis, la voce to me. Now, sing!"

Gabriel frowned dubiously, but obediently began to hum the first melody that came to mind. Belatedly, he realized that it was the lullaby his parents used to sing to him, the one he had sung to Sam, and he cocked an eyebrow when Lucifer blanched. The merman's face looked anguished for a moment before the insane smile was back and he held out a small blue shell.

Gabriel watched with wide eyes as a glowing golden tendril emerged from the shell, reaching out towards the prince. It grabbed at something in his throat and Gabriel's hands flew to his neck when he felt a sharp stinging sensation.

Lucifer began to cackle then, and Gabriel had no idea why until the pain started. It flared out from his hips and down his tail, and then spread up to his chest. He writhed as the water around him grew hot, almost unbearably so.

A sharp cracking sound resounded through the cave and Gabriel couldn't even scream, couldn't do anything but watch in horror as all of his golden scales seemed to melt away, to be replaced by the smooth skin that covered the rest of his body. The appendage split into two seamlessly, and then it was over.

Gabriel's eyes widened and his hands went back to his throat when he realised that he couldn't breathe, and he floundered around for a moment. Two tiny weights grabbed him by the arm, and then he was being tugged upwards, towards the surface.

His chest was beginning to hurt and black spots were dancing at the edge of his vision, and then they finally broke the surface of the water and Gabriel took in a huge gulping breath. Too weak to protest, he allowed himself to be tugged through the water by Dean and Castiel, who were careful to keep his head in the air.

Almost two exhausting hours later, the three of them flopped into the shallows near a large beach. Castiel and Dean were panting hard, but Gabriel was too busy examining his new appendages to notice. He lifted one of his legs into the air and wiggled the little nubs on the end of it.

Well, if he was going to do this thing, he was going to do it right. Carefully, he used his arms to pull himself up. Once his feet were completely underneath him, he slowly stood up to his full height. His legs wobbled a little, but it wasn't from lack of strength. From what he could see, his legs contained the same amount of muscle that his tail used to have.

Which is to say, a lot. Still. He took a few careful steps, pleased when he managed it without falling. Castiel's voice penetrated his concentration and he tuned into his and Dean's conversation long enough to hear the crustacean mutter, "I'm going to go straight to the sea king and have this mess sorted out. I never should have allowed this foolishness, and the king will agree."

Quickly, Gabriel scooped up the crab and gave him a pleading look. Castiel glared back.

"Don't give me that look," he said. "This whole thing is ridiculous. You are a merman, you aren't supposed to have legs!"

'Please', Gabriel mouthed, letting some of his desperation seep into his expression. Eventually, Castiel sighed, sounding very put out.

"Very well," he conceded. "I will help you."

Gabriel beamed at him, and then the flapping of wings alerted them to a new presence.

"Well, look what the catfish dragged in," Crowley said, circling for a moment before landing on a rock. He blinked. "You have legs. You went to Lucifer, didn't you?"

"How do you know the sea witch?" Dean asked suspiciously.

Crowley snorted. "Who do you think supplies him with most of the ingredients for his spells? Ol' Luci and I go way back." He cast an appraising look at Gabriel. "Let me guess, you turned human to try to woo that human, didn't you?"

"He has three days to get the prince to fall in love with him," Castiel said gravely.

"Only three days?" Crowley asked incredulously. "That's all Lucifer gave you? Wow, talk about pressed for time. Alright, merboy, if you want the prince to fall in love with you, the first thing you've gotta do is cover up your man-bits."

Gabriel tilted his head in confusion. Crowley sighed, much like Castiel had not a few minutes ago.

"You are hopeless," he muttered. "Down there, between your legs. It's usually frowned upon in polite society to walk around with your junk hanging out."

Gabriel glanced down at himself and wrinkled his nose in disgust. What the hell was that thing? It was so gross, all fleshy and just… hanging there. What was its purpose?

"Okay, well don't stare at it!" Crowley said exasperatedly. "Here, we'll need something to cover you up with."

He twitched his tail feathers, a habit he had when he was deep in thought. After a few long moments of deliberation, he flapped his wings and took the sky, promising to be back soon. Gabriel looked down at himself and decided to practice walking.

Dean watched his progress with barely concealed amusement. He chuckled a little whenever Gabriel stumbled, and when the boy fell back into the water, the fish had to stifle his laughter into his fin.

'Rude,' Gabriel mouthed, glaring.

"How elegant." Crowley landed noisily on the same rock he had been standing on before. He had something strange and white gripped in his beak, and he handed it to Gabriel. "Put those on over your legs."

Eyebrows raised skeptically, Gabriel did as he instructed. His eyes narrowed in consideration when he was done. The white thing was made of some type of cloth, and was rough against his legs. The bottoms barely covered his ankles and were frayed at the end, and the top had to be secured at his waist by a small length of rope that Crowley had handed him.

"There," Crowley said. "Now, if anyone asks, you were on a ship that crashed a few leagues out, and you had to swim all the way here."

Dean opened his mouth, probably to tell the gull that Gabriel couldn't swim, but then a loud sound came from further up the beach and he, the gull, and the crab all fled. The sound - Gabriel recognized it as the one Sam's hairy beast made, and that meant that Sam himself couldn't be far behind.

Gabriel smiled when he noticed a small grey shape bounding up the beach, but the smile dropped when he noticed that the creature wasn't stopping. In fact, it seemed to have sped up upon seeing him, and didn't look like it would stop.

The thing came right towards him, and Gabriel would have yelped as he dashed away, but he didn't have his voice. Seeing his salvation in a large boulder jutting sharply from the sand, he clambered up onto it and gazed reproachfully down at the creature.

"Bones!"

Gabriel looked up, delighted to see none other than Prince Handsome heading towards them. The creature reacted to the word, tiny tail wagging furiously, and so Gabriel decided that Bones must be its name.

Sam was panting by the time he got to them, and he stopped short when he noticed Gabriel stranded on the boulder. But then he smiled, and knowing that that smile was directed at him made Gabriel's heart flutter and warmth spread to his cheeks.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked when he was close enough. One hand reached out and roughly rubbed Bones around his ears. "I'm sorry if he scared you. He's really not dangerous, he just gets a little-" He stopped and narrowed his eyes as he studied Gabriel. "Do we know each other? You look very familiar. What's your name?"

'Gabriel,' Gabriel mouthed excitedly, but no sound came out. Both of their faces fell.

"You can't speak?" Sam guessed. Gabriel nodded miserably. "Oh. Then you can't be the one I'm looking for. It doesn't matter. You look like you could use some help. Come on, I live not too far from here."

He gently grasped Gabriel's hand and helped him down from the rock before leading him away, in the direction he had come from. He didn't let go of Gabriel's hand the whole way there, and Gabriel's heartbeat didn't calm down until he did.

… oO()Oo …

The woman called it a bath. Gabriel decided, as he sat in something called a tub that was filled with water that was pleasantly warm and bubbles that didn't float away and disappear, that he liked baths. Especially when there was someone rubbing something called soap into his hair. _Especially_ if that someone was Carlotta, because, quite frankly, the woman had the hands of a goddess. Gabriel was practically purring as she cleaned up his hair.

And then more water was dumped over his head to wash the soap out and he was wrapped in a large fluffy thing called a towel and herded back into the room he had been given. It was nice, large and airy and light, with a large fluffy bed and a fantastic view of the ocean.

He loved the bed - It was fluffy! In the ocean, nothing was fluffy because everything was always wet - but he had mixed feelings about the view. Yes, he loved seeing how beautiful his ocean looked from the surface, but every time he saw it he thought of his brother, and how the last words he had said to him were a declaration of hate.

Gabriel pushed those thoughts away and focused on what Carlotta was saying.

"...have just the outfit that'll set off your eye color, dear," the woman mumbled, voice muffled due to the fact that she had her entire upper half buried in a large wardrobe. "You and Prince Sam's eye colors are similar enough that what makes him look good will make you look good, as well."

She helped him change into new clothes, clothes that felt soft and very high quality. The shirt was white and long sleeved, tight around his chest and with loose sleeves. Overtop of that went a sleeveless pale red vest with gold trimming around the collar. The pants were dark blue and a proper length. They reached his ankles, though those were hidden by the brown, knee-length leather boots he wore.

His hair was brushed and fell in waves around his face, and Carlotta even went so far as to add a simple gold pendant that fell just above the v-neck of his shirt. It was very different than fashion in the merworld, but he supposed he looked good, if Carlotta's gasp and wide smile were anything to go by.

Once she deemed him ready, she led him through the wide halls to an ornate dining room. Gabriel looked around at the room with slightly widened eyes. It was nice, he guessed, considering it was a human room. It was very open and light, and one whole wall was windows that led to - what else? - an ocean view.

"Wow," Sam said, and Gabriel looked at him. "You look - very nice."

Gabriel smiled in thanks and sat down on the seat Bobby pulled out for him.

"You know, Sam," Bobby said, taking his own seat, "our guest would probably enjoy a tour of the kingdom considering he's never been here before."

Gabriel giggled silently when he saw that Sam was staring at him, a small smile on his face. He started when Bobby spoke.

"I'm sorry, Bobby, what?" he asked. Bobby rolled his eyes.

"You can't spend all your time with your head in the clouds," he said. "You need to get out, get a life, anything to get your mind off of-"

"Ah, yes Bobby," Sam said quickly, with a small sideways glance at Gabriel. "A tour sounds great, actually, if he's interested. So, how about it? Want to tour the kingdom with me?"

Gabriel nodded eagerly and Sam smiled.

… oO()Oo …

"I hope you appreciate all that I'm doing for you, Gabriel," Castiel said sternly, but the prince wasn't looking. Leaning on the rail of the balcony just outside his room, he smiled softly as he watched Sam play with Bones. He looked up suddenly and even with a fair bit of distance between them, Gabriel could see him chuckling. Gabriel blushed when Sam waved and, after lifting a hand quickly in response, he headed back inside.

"Gabriel," Castiel snapped sternly. "If we want this to work, you need to prepare yourself for tomorrow. I know you have charm, many merpeople have said so, so tomorrow, when Sam takes you out, you need to-"

He cut himself off and sighed exasperatedly when he saw Gabriel fast asleep on the bed. Still, he couldn't help the small smile that graced his lips as he gazed at the boy.

"You are hopeless," he said fondly. He scuttled across the bedside table he was perched on and made himself comfortable on one of Gabriel's many pillows. "Absolutely hopeless.

 **As you've probably guessed, I'm trying to keep in as many movie quotes as possible, while still keeping the characters actually in character. It's a lot less difficult than I thought it would be, actually.**

 **We're making good progress, though. Only three chapters in and he's already human! Granted, the movie managed to fit like, a week's worth of drama into two hours, so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised.**


	4. Chapter 4

Carlotta came by and woke him up at an ungodly hour, in Gabriel's opinion. She helped him bathe again (and this time Gabriel actually ended up falling asleep in the tub) and dressed him, though the clothes were much simpler than the ensemble he had worn the previous night.

The maid had chosen another plain white shirt, this time with a collar instead of a v-neck, and a simple dark blue coat to go overtop. His pants were light blue, and his boots black. Sam was dressed in the same clothes that he had worn the day before, making Gabriel wonder if he had gotten any sleep, or if he just liked that outfit so much that he had multiple.

Breakfast was a quick thing, with barely any time for small talk, which Gabriel was grateful for. He really was excited, as this would be the first (though hopefully not the last) chance for him to actually see what it was like to be a human.

Carlotta and Bobby waved them off as Gabriel and Sam departed in a carriage drawn by a large creature called a horse. Gabriel wrinkled his nose at the name; they looked nothing like seahorses.

Their first stop was the shops. Sam, being a prince, didn't have to worry about price, and told Gabriel that he could have whatever he wanted. Being a prince himself, Gabriel was already used to that, but he found it a little liberating to not be treated like royalty, for once.

He ended up buying every little thing that caught his eye, and he made Sam carry it all as they ran from shop to shop. Not that Sam would complain, of course. From what Gabriel had learned about the prince, he was incredibly sweet and kind and always willing to help others.

While going from a bakery to a small toy shop, commotion in the village square caught his eye. Moving closer, his face lit up with a huge smile when he saw what had captured everyone's attention.

He stood watching the dancers for a few moments, entranced, until Sam caught up to him and asked him to dance. It didn't take long for Sam to teach him how, and then they were the envy of all of the other couples, twirling and laughing around the square.

When they finally loaded their stuff into the carriage and headed back to the castle, Gabriel had thought that the day was over. But Sam surprised him immensely when he took them to a small hidden lagoon, in which a rowboat just big enough for two already floated.

"You know," Sam said when he had rowed them out to the middle of the pond, "I feel really bad about not knowing your name. Maybe I can guess. Is it… Edward?"

Gabriel made a face and Sam laughed.

"Okay, guess not. How about Thomas?" Gabriel shook his head. "Peter?"

Rolling his eyes, Gabriel mimed holding a pen and scribbled into the air. Luckily, Sam got it.

"You want to write it out?" The boy nodded and plucked a cattail from where it was growing out of the water. Carefully, he wrote out each letter of his name into the air, backwards, so that Sam would be able to understand it. The expression of intense concentration on his face as he watched warmed Gabriel to no end.

"Gabriel?" Sam asked when he had finished, and Gabriel nodded eagerly, impulsively reaching out and taking his hand; luckily Sam didn't pull away, but leaned back, relaxed, and smiled softly. "Gabriel. It's beautiful. Like you."

He blushed as he realized what he had said, but not as hard as Gabriel himself. The boy noticed Castiel and Dean floating in the water a little ways away from the boat, disturbing fireflies and causing them to rise lazily into the air, lights blinking like mini stars.

Sam cleared his throat nervously and leaned forward slightly. Gabriel copied the movement, heart beating erratically in his chest. His eyes slipped shut and the last thing he saw was Sam leaning towards him purposefully.

And then there was a lurch and a brief weightlessness and then cold and wet, and Gabriel felt himself being helped into a standing position by a chuckling Sam. He didn't respond when Sam righted the boat and helped him back into it, and began rowing back towards shore.

He was shocked. And more than a little pissed. Today had been going so well! He was sure that Sam had been about to kiss him, hopefully ending his accursed silence and turning him human permanently. Why did the powers that be hate him so?

That night, after taking a quick bath and eating a thankfully warm dinner of some sort of soup, he flopped onto his bed, exhausted and wanting nothing more than to go out and throttle something. Castiel noticed his mood, but didn't comment on it, and nothing more was said that night.

… oO()Oo …

Gabriel was sleeping rather peacefully, considering the whirlwind that had been his emotions the previous night, and so he was rather disgruntled when something cold and hard poked him in the back. He let out a grumble and burrowed deeper under the covers, but then whoever it was sighed exasperatedly.

"I swear, you are the laziest thing I have ever met." His hair was pushed away from his ear, and then something leaned in and shouted, "Wake up!"

Gabriel jolted awake, one hand rubbing at his throbbing ear fruitlessly. He glared at Crowley and resolved to leave his balcony doors closed and locked the next night.

"Finally," the gull sighed. "I've been trying to wake you for ages!"

"Why?" Castiel asked from his position on Gabriel's pillow. "What's going on?"

Crowley snorted. "As if you two imbeciles don't know. It isn't as if the entire town is talking about the prince's impromptu wedding this afternoon or anything."

Gabriel's mouth dropped in surprise, and then split into a smile of delight, and _then_ tilted down in a frown of confusion. Sam was getting married? To whom? After all, it isn't as if he had asked Gabriel. But at the same time, who else could it be?

Previous tiredness forgotten, Gabriel rushed from his room, still in the soft white pants and shirt he slept in. He rushed down two small flights of stairs and was about to step into the main foyer when he heard Bobby's voice and stopped dead.

"Well, Sam," the man said, "I was beginning to think that your mystery man was just a figment of that strange mind of yours, but it seems I was mistaken. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Bobby," Sam said. "We wish to be married today. The wedding ship departs at sunset."

Gabriel covered his mouth with one hand to keep in his sobs and blinked rapidly to clear away the tears gathering in his eyes. Cautiously, he peeped around the corner and his heart broke at what he saw.

Sam, dressed in a white suit with red and gold trimming and a blue sash, stood next to a man that Gabriel had never seen before. He was as tall as Sam and almost as broad shouldered. His hair was light brown and curled around the nape of his neck, and next to Sam he looked incredibly plain, wearing nothing but a dark purple shirt and black pants.

He wrapped his arms possessively around one of Sam's own and leaned his head against his shoulder, and Gabriel couldn't take any more. He turned tail and ran back down the hallway, chest aching with the sobs he was keeping in.

Not wanting Castiel or Crowley in such a state, he locked himself in one of the other spare bedrooms and leaned against the door. His eyes squeezed shut and he finally released all the pain that had been building up.

His day was miserable. He spent the first hour or so crying on and off, hurriedly silencing himself every time someone passed by and then becoming more and more depressed the longer he was allowed to wallow in his misery.

DId no one care enough to at least try to find him? Even Castiel and Crowley hadn't come, though he kind of expected that from the old gull. The sun rose higher and higher, then started to set, and Gabriel still didn't leave.

He watched the preparations from his window, which had a simply _magnificent_ view of the ship that was being prepared for the wedding. He watched, detached, as servants scurried around below him, preparing for the last minute event.

When finally those who had been invited to the wedding showed up and began to board the ship, Gabriel left his room and made it back to the one he had slept in the past two nights. Silently, lest he alert anyone to his presence, he opened the door and slipped inside.

Castiel was sitting on bed, and he looked at Gabriel with such a look of pity that the boy couldn't help the way his lower lip trembled. But he bit his cheek until the tears were gone; he wouldn't give anyone the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

As he dressed himself in the clothes he had worn the previous day, the rational part of his brain said that Castiel would take no satisfaction in seeing Gabriel cry; but the emotional part of his brain - the part currently sobbing and weeping and crying out at the injustice of it all - told the rational part to stuff it.

Castiel didn't say anything the whole time, for which Gabriel was grateful. When he was ready to go, he let Castiel crawl into his pocket and together they headed outside. They made it to the pier just as the ship cast off, and Gabriel leaned against a post and watched it go with expressionless eyes.

He had finished his crying hours ago; there were no more tears left for him to spill. So he watched and waited. The sun would set fully soon, and then he'd be free to return to his home. Of course, he'd "belong" to Lucifer, whatever the hell that meant, but at least he wouldn't have to stay on the surface and watch Sam and his new husband everyday.

Dean, floating in the water and angrily cursing princes, sea witches, and everything else that came to mind, was the first to notice when Crowley came swooping in. He landed gracelessly right next to Gabriel, panting hard.

"Just thought I should let you know," he gasped, "that dear old Luci duped you."

"What do you mean?" Castiel asked.

"Apparently, he has the ability to turn himself human, too," the gull explained. "And he's currently preparing for his wedding to Prince Gigantor."

As the implications set in, Gabriel's eyes got wider and wider until he was gaping at Crowley. He looked at the ship, and remembered Lucifer's warning.

 _Before the sun sets on the third day…_

He still had time to save Sam, and himself! He didn't even look at the water before he jumped in, and as his air-breathing lungs inhaled a large mouthful of water, he figured that this counted as one of those look-before-you-leap kind of situation.

Kicking furiously, he managed to break the surface and gulp in a huge breath. Thrashing around in the water, he realized belatedly that he had only learned to walk not even three days ago, and had absolutely no clue how to swim with anything other than his tail.

Luckily, Dean managed to wiggle underneath his arms and hold him up.

"Dean," Castiel said commandingly, and Dean shivered a little. _Not the time for your freaky interspecies crush, Dean,_ Gabriel thought crossly. "Get Gabriel to the ship as fast as you can."

"On it," the fish replied. He managed to turn them and started swimming determinedly towards the ship. Gabriel tried to help as much as he could by kicking his legs out behind him to propel them along.

"I'm going to inform the sea king. I've let this go on too long," Gabriel heard Castiel say before a small wave crashed over his head, making him splutter and cough. Gabriel held on tighter to Dean and watched with rising hope as the ship got closer and closer.

By the time they actually reached it, Dean was panting hard and the sun had set a little more, casting a soft golden glow over the water. Gabriel used a hanging length of rope to pull himself up the side of the ship.

It was slow going and he hadn't even made it halfway up the rope before there was a great commotion on deck. Screaming followed soon after, along with what sounded like… seals? Anxious to see exactly what was going on, Gabriel renewed his efforts and pushed on, despite the fact that his arms already felt like they were made of jellyfish.

Finally making it to the railing, he let go of the rope and pulled himself on deck… right in time to almost get hit in the face by a flying shell. Instead of landing on his head, however, it smashed into pieces at his feet.

A strange golden light spilled out of it and made its way up to his throat, and then Gabriel remembered when he had given his voice to Lucifer. When the light finally slid down his throat, he felt like he was whole again, which he technically was.

"Gabriel?" The boy looked to where Sam stood next to his "mystery man". A light flashed in his irises for a second and then the prince groaned and gripped his head.

"Sam," Gabriel breathed. Sam hurried to his side and took both of his hands.

"It was you who saved me from that ship! It was you the whole time!"

"I wanted to tell you," Gabriel said. "But you never gave me anything to write with."

Sam laughed and leaned forward until their foreheads were touching.

"My bad."

Once more, Sam's lips heading for his own was the last thing Gabriel saw as his eyes closed. But just as their lips came together - so close that Gabriel could feel Sam's warm breath ghosting over his face - the last sliver of light faded as the sun went down.

 **Dun-dun-motherfucking-duuuunnn! I guess it's not technically a cliffhanger since you all probably already know what happens, but still. It's the thought that counts.**

 **Anyways, I'm thinking one, maybe two more chapters until this thing is finished, and then I'll start working on my Drarry story, Draco Draconem. Stay cool, Lovelies.**


	5. Chapter 5

Gabriel let out a pained gasp and went rigid. It took much less time than turning human did, he noticed. It wasn't nearly as dramatic. One moment he was supporting himself with own two legs, the next, he was being cradled in Sam's arms on the deck with about five feet of golden tail in between them.

Fierce cackling broke out from the other side of the ship.

"You're too late," Lucifer cried. "You're too late!" His form rippled and then shredded as easily as paper, and from the disguise spilled his true form. The other people on board gasped horribly and stumbled back as Lucifer dragged himself across the ship with his arms.

Surprisingly quick for someone dragging roughly one hundred pounds of pure muscle behind him, he reached them and grabbed Gabriel in a chokehold. "So long, loverboy!" he called to Sam as he leaned backwards and sent the two of them careening into the sea.

Gabriel started struggling as soon as they hit the water, but Lucifer's grip on his wrist was too strong. The witch dragged Gabriel along purposefully, not even looking back at him once.

"Poor princeling," he cooed. "It's not you I'm after, don't worry. I've got a much bigger fish to fry."

"Lucifer, stop!" Gabriel slammed into Lucifer's back when the merman jerked to a halt. Peeping around his shoulder, Gabriel was ecstatic to see none other than his older brother, trident pointed straight at Lucifer's heart and Castiel glaring menacingly from the king's shoulder.

"King Michael," Lucifer said dryly. He ran a single finger over the edge of the trident, as if checking for dust. "How are you?"

Michael, as always, was not in the mood for bullshit. "Let him go."

"Not a chance, brother, he's mine," Lucifer snarled. "We have a deal."

Lucifer produced the contract from somewhere and showed it to Michael, but Gabriel wasn't paying attention. Had Lucifer just called Michael-

"Brother?"

Both of the mermen looked at him, and Gabriel felt dizzy when he noticed the resemblance. They both had the same wavy blonde hair, same piercing blue eyes and angry scowl. And their tails. Lucifer's was green with blue streaks, and Michael's was blue with green streaks, but the colors were the exact same.

"You're my brother?" Gabriel choked out, but he was ignored. Michael levelled his trident at the contract and the water the grew hot as he blasted it. Nothing happened. Lucifer let out a short laugh.

"You see?" he said gleefully. "I didn't lie. You know I never lie. The contract is legal, binding and unbreakable. Even for you." A sly smile slid onto his face. "However, I always did have an eye for a bargain. The prince of the sea is a precious commodity, you know, very rare. But I may be willing to trade him for something - or should I say someone - even better."

Gabriel's eyes widened. "No!" he shouted, but once again he was ignored. He began to writhe in Lucifer's grip again, but the merman only tightened his fist painfully. Michael looked at him, sorrow evident in his eyes.

Without saying anything, he aimed the trident once again at the contract; but this time, instead of trying to destroy it, he signed his name. Lucifer smiled evilly and waved his hand, and then in a second where once floated a mighty and powerful king, there was only a tiny shrivelled thing waving in the current.

Gabriel was released from Lucifer's grasp as the witch grabbed eagerly at the crown and trident. He swam immediately to his brother.

"Michael," he whispered. The shrivelled thing turned its large eyes on him and white-hot rage flashed through his veins. He snarled angrily and attacked the witch. Lucifer barked out a laugh and easily dislodged him. Using his tail to pin Gabriel down to the sand, he aimed the trident lazily in his direction.

"Don't," he said dangerously. "You may be my little brother, but I will not hesitate to end you." The weapon in his hands glowed gold and Gabriel thrashed, trying to get out of his hold, but he didn't have to. Lucifer shouted in pain and anger, and Gabriel looked up in time to see the witch grab at a gash on his arm.

He glared in the direction of the surface, and Gabriel followed his gaze. Sam was treading water not twenty feet away, glaring down at them.

"Get him!" Lucifer growled, and Lilith and Azazel appeared out of nowhere and streaked towards Sam. The prince's eyes widened and he headed back to the surface, but he wasn't quick enough. In only a few seconds the eels had wrapped themselves around him, successfully preventing his escape.

The witch chuckled as he took aim with the trident, and fear coursed through Gabriel's heart. Using strength he didn't even know he possessed, he ripped free of Lucifer's hold and grabbed a handful of blonde hair, pulling hard.

The energy blast he shot off went wide, hitting the eels instead of the prince. They both let out shrill screams, and then there was a flash and the only thing remaining were a few charred pieces of flesh. Lucifer snarled at Gabriel, who had darted to Sam immediately and was helping him to the surface.

"You've got to get out of here," Gabriel said urgently when they breached the water. "He's batshit crazy and he won't hesitate to kill you."

"I'm not leaving you," Sam insisted firmly. "I already lost you once, I'm not losing you again."

Gabriel's reply was cut off as everything started to quake. Gabriel grabbed Sam and swam them further away from where they had surfaced, just in time. The first things they noticed were the tips of the golden crown, followed closely by a blonde head of hair and hateful blue eyes. Soon, all of Lucifer was staring down at them, so huge that they had to tip their heads back just to look at him.

"You pitiful, insignificant fools!" he cried, voice much deeper than before. "I am the ruler of all the oceans! You are all beneath me!"

He waved the supersized trident and instantly stormclouds began to gather and the waves grew to twice their size. He swirled it around in the water and a whirlpool formed, going down until it hit the seafloor. Sunken ships began to rise and the clouds broke, pouring sharp raindrops relentlessly on their skin.

It was chaos.

Gabriel was torn from Sam's grasp by a huge wave, which oh so conveniently tossed him into the center of the whirlpool. His stomach lurched as he fell, and he landed hard on the sand. He heard Sam shouting and Lucifer cackling again.

"So much for true love," Lucifer crowed, aiming the trident at the helpless merman. The first few blasts Gabriel was able to dodge, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to forever. "Say goodbye, brother, de-AHH!"

Gabriel stared in shock at the jagged beam of wood protruding from Lucifer's stomach. He turned slightly and Gabriel saw that it was really the bowsprit of one of the ships that had surfaced. Lucifer, groaning in agony and clutching at his stomach, slowly sunk lower and lower into the water, his grip on the trident slipping.

With one final shudder, his eyes rolled up into his skull and he disappeared into the sea. Gabriel started pulling himself towards the edge of the whirlpool, ready to fight through it and get to the open water on the other side.

He needn't have bothered; with an almighty roar, the swirling motion suddenly stopped, and thousands of pounds of water crashed overtop of him. Gabriel was swept away with the current, unable to do anything except curl up and ride it out.

He floated in the water for a moment, stunned. It was the feeling of two strong hands on his shoulders that finally brought him to his senses, and he looked up to find Michael, healthy and back to normal, smiling down at him.

"Michael!" he cried. He flung himself at his brother and wrapped his arms around his neck. "I missed you so much! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything. This whole thing is my fault."

"Calm down, Gabriel," Michael said, arms coming up to hold him closer. "We both could have handled this situation better. But what's done is done, and everything is fine. Lucifer is dead and you're back in the sea where you belong."

Gabriel instantly sobered. "Mike, was Lucifer really our brother?"

Michael's face fell, pain flashing across his features, but then he nodded. And that was all he ever said about it again.

… oO()Oo …

Gabriel was getting worried. Well, more worried. He had been in a state of constant worry ever since he had found out that Lucifer had spelled Sam to love him, all those hours ago. Said prince still hadn't woken up.

Gabriel had found him laid out on a beach nearby, close to where the palace lay. How he had managed to swim so far before passing out Gabriel never found out, but he was willing to accept that there were just some things about Sam that would always elude him.

Well, they would've always eluded him, had he been faster and managed to get that stupid kiss before the stupid sun set. He was a merman again, and Sam was still human, and the original problem still stood.

Except now Gabriel was almost completely convinced that Sam held at least some feelings for him, and that made it almost even more painful to be in two separate worlds yet again.

Gabriel sighed, sinking a little lower into the sea. He was determined to wait until Sam had woken up, to at least get a goodbye. But he didn't want to say goodbye. He wanted to be human again, to experience all the things he's ever heard of about human life, to ask his questions and finally get some answers.

His heart gave a painful tug, and Gabriel sighed again. Except the slight pain in his chest didn't go away, and even travelled down to his tail. Frowning, he looked down and then broke out into a smile so wide his cheeks hurt.

It didn't hurt when Michael's magic split his tail, not like it had when Lucifer had done it. It was more like a slight pinch, and then a tug, and then Gabriel was standing in the shallows in a pair of white pants and a blue shirt, and watching excitedly as Sam finally started to stir.

The prince lifted his head and groaned.

"Gabriel?" he called hoarsely. His eyes widened and he looked around, panicked. His gaze stopped on Gabriel, and then his face lit up into the biggest smile he had ever seen the prince wear. "Gabriel!"

Not caring about who might be watching, Gabriel ran the last few feet that separated them and threw himself into Sam's arms.

"You're human?" Sam asked, pulling away slightly. Gabriel laughed.

"You can thank my brother for that," he replied, standing a little to the side so that Sam could see where Michael treaded water a few feet from shore, glaring intimidatingly at Sam.

"I'll do just that, then." Sam used his fingers to tilt up Gabriel's chin. "I was so scared earlier. I thought I was going to lose you, right after I had just gotten you back."

Gabriel gripped one of Sam's hands in both of his. "Well, you won't have to worry about losing me ever again," he said. "If you'll have me, that is."

Sam's response was to finally press their lips together in a chaste kiss, one that quickly developed into something deeper. Gabriel smiled when he felt the tip of a tongue poking tentatively at his bottom lip and decided that if he were to die right then, he'd be totally fine with that, because nothing could ever come close to the joy he was feeling at that exact moment.

From the ocean came a loud wolf whistle, and then a shout of, "Yeah! Gabriel's getting some hot royal ass!"

Gabriel groaned. Fucking Dean.

 **So, quick side note. In the original Little Mermaid, it was revealed that Ursula was actually King Trident's brother and Ariel's aunt, so of course I was gonna make a reference to that. Thus, Lucifer ended up being their brother. Yay.**

 **Also, the reason it feels like there was no development of the romance between Sam and Gabriel is because in the Disney version, Ariel supposedly fell in love with Eric after saving his life and stealing his birthday statue. The whole damn movie was rushed, and the fic is going to reflect that. It was inevitable.**

 **On the other hand, I tried to make it as realistic as possible, considering it's a movie about a merman. And yeah, I totally made up that last part with Dean, but I wanted to give that sassy fish some more parts in the story. I hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks a shit ton, Lovelies!**


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